Oneida >> A pile of debris was all that remained of a Phelps Street martial arts school and antiques shop, Friday, after being demolished.

“What a shame,” said one woman walking through the area while the work was taking place. “These buildings are all so old.”

The eastern wall of Waterman’s Martial Arts Ryouzan Dojo, located at 128 Phelps St., began collapsing Wednesday, July 2 around 7:45 p.m. By Friday morning, vertical cracks were forming on the building, as well as the roofline spanning the dojo and Phelps Mercantile, located at 120-124 Phelps St.

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Mercantile owner Teri Hill said she saw cracks forming in her walls after the initial collapse.

By noon on Friday, the Oneida Fire Department knocked both structures down while onlookers gathered outside the taped-off safety area, taking pictures and sharing memories about the neighborhood.

Dojo owner Heath Waterman was able to recover some of his belongings Saturday morning, including the dojo’s Bob, or body opponent bag used in sparring. Waterman said Bob, which is made out of foam and rubber, “rolled out of the wreckage last night,” and its appearance surprised the crew.

He said the group is moving fast, and he hopes to be clearing out the basement of 128 Phelps St. He has had family and friends there since they were given the OK to sift through the rubble around 2 p.m. on Friday. They’ve been working around the clock in shifts.

Waterman said Hill was working hard throughout the night, and even chased away two would-be looters from the properties.

“We’ve been handling our own security, because the patrols don’t stay down here; they only circle every few minutes,” Waterman said. “Teri chased two guys away last night. We haven’t had too many problems though with crews working around the clock.”

Waterman said he first started noticing cracks a week before the collapse, and he called in masons to inspect and repair the damage.

“The mason had said the inner-layer of brick was still strong,” Waterman said. “They said that the wall was still stable.”

Waterman said he was fighting against time with the building that he used for both his dojo and storage. Previous owners had struggled to maintain the older structure as well.

“If we had more time between storms, maybe this could’ve been prevented,” Waterman said.

“This is a sad day for Oneida,” said Hill, who was unable to enter her Phelps Mercantile business to try and save her antiques, collectibles and used furniture before the building was demolished.

Events began Wednesday evening when Oneida resident Sherry Tiller was the first to see the building crack and reported it to police. What followed was something she said she’s never seen before, and hopes she doesn’t see again.

“My daughter and I were walking through that parking lot next to the building when we saw it crack and watched a couple bricks fall out,” Tiller said. “I called the cops and they told me to stay put.”

Tiller said that around 7:30 p.m., after she got off the phone, she watched big red clouds of dust plume out of the building as it fell. She instinctively ran from the edge of the parking lot to an alcove across the street and shielded her daughter.

“I called them right back and said they needed to get here a lot faster,” Tiller said.

She said the building collapse scared her daughter, Alyssa, so much that she couldn’t sleep Wednesday night.

Demolition of the building only took a few hours Friday morning, as a demolition crew and members of the Oneida Fire Department brought in heavy equipment to rip the structure down. While firefighters doused the scene to keep dust to a minimum, at times, large puffs of reddish-brown dust rose from the rubble as bricks came crashing down.

Oneida City Police also warned that those in the scrap metal or recycling business are not to pick from the rubble pile before it is trucked away and the site will be monitored by patrols.

Waterman moved into his Phelps Street dojo six years ago after he graduated from college and Johnny Owens moved his karate school down south. He said he’s had multiple offers for temporary places to hold karate classes and training, and he’s still working with his insurance to determine whether he wants to rebuild on the same site or find another location.

Either way, he plans on staying in Oneida.

In the meantime, “I will probably have classes in the park, rain or shine,” Waterman said. “After all, rain builds character.”

About the Authors

Jolene Cleaver is a staff writer at the Oneida Dispatch. Her coverage focuses on crime, government and community events. Reach the author at jcleaver@oneidadispatch.com
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Until December, 2014, Nick will was a staff writer at the Oneida Daily Dispatch. Hailing from Madison. Nick is a 2012 SUNY Plattsburgh graduate. In his time at The Dispatch, he focused on education, history and community events coverage in Madison and Southern Oneida counties. Reach the author at nwill@oneidadispatch.com
or follow Nick on Twitter: @DispatchNick.